North Jersey has never looked so strange than in Ryan J. Sloan’s directorial debut Gazer. His twist on neo-noir is a liminal nightmare drenched in film grain and dread, a smoldering slow burn through one woman’s desperate attempts to provide for her daughter in the face of a degenerative illness. Featuring a stunning performance by Ariella Mastroianni (who also co-wrote and produced the film), this indie thriller treads familiar ground with aesthetic precision that caters to those with a taste for the strange and unusual.
Frankie is a single mom with a degenerative neurological condition called dyschronometria, which causes her to lose her sense of time. To keep herself grounded, she listens to tapes she’s recorded previously so she stays on track towards her goal: raise enough money to take care of her young daughter. But, due to her condition, holding down a job is difficult, and she takes whatever she can get to pay the bills.
This leads her to take a job from a stranger who corners her at a group for people who have lost loved ones to suicide (Frankie’s husband and the father of her daughter died by apparent suicide). Her name is Paige (Renee Gagner), and she offers Frankie a massive paycheck to go to her apartment and grab her car keys. She’s trying to escape her abusive brother but can’t go back to her place under fear of grave injury. Without asking too many questions, Frankie takes the job, enticed by the pay that would shatter her savings goal.
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As is often the case in a noir film, this job isn’t what it seems, and Frankie embarks on a dream-like quest across North Jersery, searching for Paige and her money, all while fighting off neurological episodes and dreaming of her dead husband. Frankie also narrates the film, her voice floating across stark images of an isolated Frankie, existing alone in the big, bad world. While her body seems small, her voice is confident, echoing the sounds of noir detectives of films past. There are even echoes of Dale Cooper and Twin Peaks as Frankie talks to “you” through her recordings.
While most of the film is rather straightforward in its constructed mystery, Sloan peppers in two surreal dream sequences that feel plucked straight out of Videodrome. These moments feel out of place amongst the already dreamy thriller, drastically shifting the tone into fleshy nightmares. And these moments are welcome! There’s a disgusting vision there that I crave more of. But, Sloan doesn’t fully commit to that bizarre tone, which ultimately makes these two scenes feel extraneous, stretching out an already long runtime.
Regardless, Sloan and Mastroianni commit to a slow burn captured on gorgeous 16 mm film. Every frame of Gazer feels like you can reach out and feel the film grain, which only adds to the liminality of Frankie’s existence. There are no cell phones or pieces of modern technology. Instead, there are tape players, pay phones, and bus passes, an analog existence in a digital world. This only adds to Frankie’s isolation from the world, as modern technology can trigger a neurological episode.
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Mastroianni carries Gazer on Frankie’s frail back, contorting her face to look like a haunted doll at all times. While her voice carries throughout the film, Frankie doesn’t have a lot of dialogue. Instead, Mastroianni creates a specific physicality for the character, making her both strong and frail in the same breath.
Playing underneath it all is a stellar score composed by Steve Matthew Carter that combines industrial tones with discordant saxophone riffs reminiscent of a jazz band from Silent Hill. He captures the recognizable somber jazz of the typical noir, but then gives it a modern, surrealist twist that perfectly matches Frankie’s mental state. Each note further builds the dread already lurking in every frame.
Filmed over two and a half years, Sloan and Mastroianni have crafted something special. Its slow pace may deter some, but patient viewers are rewarded with a singularly bizarre experience that treads familiar ground through a distinct and unique perspective. Gazer is a stunning debut that captures the paradoxical claustrophobia that comes with existing in such a large world and embodies modern terror through a dread-filled suburb.
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